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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pissed off we won’t get the £150 rebate

286 replies

Usererror1999 · 10/02/2022 22:06

I feel like the rebate is giving with one hand and taking with the other. But now I also realise that as we are in band E: we aren’t getting the rebate at all! So it’s just “take” from us. We already pay a higher amount of council tax and we aren’t high users of council services

We aren’t rich: but we do have a fairly decent house that we make other sacrifices to afford. We work hard and pay into a pension and pay off our mortgage in the hope that we’re fairly self sufficient in old age. This just feels like a bit of a slap in the face.

OP posts:
ChoiceMummy · 11/02/2022 07:39

[quote Usererror1999]@Blossomtoes we live in a house worth £200k. Many of the band Es in our area are worth around £200k. We earn pretty average salaries (joint salary of around £55k: so not loaded)[/quote]
Excessively above the average for income though, so yes you can afford it in comparison to households who have much lower earnings and would never be in a position to afford to own a 200k home.

I feel more sympathy for those private renting, not eligible for council tax support tbh and in a Band E. Though again, likelihood of many of those being on the poverty line is low, for them to afford the rent level.

Inspectorslack · 11/02/2022 07:39

@RedRobin100 I was the same when I rented the rates were paid as part of my rent but the landlord paid them not me.

OmgIThinkILikeYou · 11/02/2022 07:50

We're band E but I can't work out why, our house is not massive and I have used a calculator to work out the value in 1991 (if it had been built) and we are slap bang in the middle of D band. All of our estate seems to be 1 level higher than it should be, I have contested it.

AChocolateOrangeaday · 11/02/2022 07:56

Try living on Carer's allowance which works out at 39p an hour.

That IS a fucking slap in the face.

Balula · 11/02/2022 08:05

We are band E "affordable homes" scheme my arse..

I've been desperately looking for a second job and the possibility of swapping houses, all our neighbours have already gone because it's too expensive to live here. Sad

Bellringer · 11/02/2022 08:15

Poorer on benefit, low wage & housing benefit won't get it. Mad, stupid and criminal

Dogsandbabies · 11/02/2022 08:16

@LadyCatStark fair point. Sorry, I was thinking of OPs situation rather than more broadly.

ABCDEF1234 · 11/02/2022 08:23

When I pay £2300 for my band D property yet someone in Westminster with a band D property pays £827 I will happily take the £150 - it's not even a dent in the total bill yet I bet there are still people in Westminster complaining they don't get the £150. Yes Westminster is an example but almost all of the country still has a lower council tax bill than my area

Bumpy23 · 11/02/2022 08:26

@Blossomtoes why would I make it up?.... It is ridiculous, unbelievable! It's a new build eco home, with every mod con that 'saves the environment' with the most incredible views. Which give it's the price tag,But their banding is A, so rebate it is.

dworky · 11/02/2022 08:34

I'm not sure how a family can fail to use refuse collection, street lighting, road sweeping etc.?

godmum56 · 11/02/2022 08:49

@Usererror1999

What I mean is we are not using any more council services than the average household
I use LESS services because I live alone and have never had kids. Still have to pay the same as a family.
Original poster
Usererror1999 · 11/02/2022 08:50

@BobbleAlong average salary in the uk is around £30k now. We don’t have a joint salary of £100k, we have a joint salary of £55k

OP posts:
Original poster
Usererror1999 · 11/02/2022 08:53

@ChoiceMummy we are not significantly above average income. Average salary these days is £30k. I’m on that and DH is on £25k

OP posts:
Wincher · 11/02/2022 08:55

I’m inclined to agree, OP - it is a blunt instrument. Our house is band D despite being worth prob £650k, and we are high earners. We will be donating the rebate either to our local food bank or to a charity which helps people with fuel costs. But to be fair a more equitable system would be costly to administer. Taxes for higher earners should really go up but that isn’t going to happen under a Tory government!

Original poster
Usererror1999 · 11/02/2022 08:57

@Cuno. You replied at 3am!!! I have no problem if it was means tested and only went to those who actually needed it (possibly about 25% of the country). But it’s based on council tax banding which is very random (based on house value 30 years ago, hence why our £200k house is in band E. other friends are in modest houses that are in band E. whereas there will be loads of people with more money than us getting the rebate. That’s why I’m pissed off

OP posts:
hopeishere · 11/02/2022 09:00

@Inspectorslack

Join the club.

No one in Northern Ireland is getting it.

I'm not sure what the rebate is but we did get £100 to "shop local".
Pinkyantelope · 11/02/2022 09:00

[quote Usererror1999]@cuno I wish we were in an £1m house![/quote]
Yes but £1 million house where I live would probably be the same house as yours. A bog standard three bedroom costs between £600,000 and £1.1 million and that's just in the London suburbs, not central London.

Plus you have to remember everything else is more expensive too, like drinking in the pub, meals out, babysitting costs, nursery etc. So someone living in London on £50k is going to have a lot lower standard of living than elsewhere in the country.

I can't imagine thinking I should get a rebate in your situation. £50k salary in a £200k house is only 4x your income. To get a two bedroom flat where I live you'd have to earn £100k.

Original poster
Usererror1999 · 11/02/2022 09:09

@Pinkyantelope it’s the fact that lots of people who
Have more money than I do are still getting the rebate.

OP posts:
SpaceDetective · 11/02/2022 09:16

As a blunt instrument (as means testing costs money) it doesn't strike me as ridiculously unfair. Im sure there are always some anomalies but in the county I live in 90% of houses are band A-D

ivegotthisyeah · 11/02/2022 09:17

Band E here too, single mum who just scraped through to cling onto my children house in a Recent divorce. My income is very very low but because we bought the house at the right time the mortgage is less than rent would be for a smaller house.
So no it's not fair which brainless idiots come up with these ideas is beyond me

cuno · 11/02/2022 09:19

[quote Usererror1999]@Cuno. You replied at 3am!!! I have no problem if it was means tested and only went to those who actually needed it (possibly about 25% of the country). But it’s based on council tax banding which is very random (based on house value 30 years ago, hence why our £200k house is in band E. other friends are in modest houses that are in band E. whereas there will be loads of people with more money than us getting the rebate. That’s why I’m pissed off[/quote]
No, you're pissed off because YOU are not getting the £150. The title of your thread says it all! You would not be here complaining about the morality of it if your band was included, you'd be happy in fact. Yet here you are whining about it meanwhile people have to choose between heating and eating.

ChoiceMummy · 11/02/2022 09:35

@Bellringer

Poorer on benefit, low wage & housing benefit won't get it. Mad, stupid and criminal
But in that case, surely the recipient is already receiving a significant discount in their council tax?
BaconMassive · 11/02/2022 09:37

If you start a crowd funder for your missing £150, I'll chip in a few quid.

Phrowzunn · 11/02/2022 09:39

I get you OP, we are a single-income household and have saved really hard to get our new house which the council decided (after we bought it!) to re-band at E so we will not get the rebate even though it would make a big difference to us. We also don’t get child benefit because of my DH’s wage. Now all of that is fine EXCEPT people I know who have two separate incomes that add up to more than our household income do still get child benefit, plus both tax free personal allowances, plus no higher rate income tax, plus the rebate because of the specific house they live in and it just feels really unfair. It should be based on joint household income in my opinion. My DH pays a ridiculous amount of tax but we get absolutely nothing back at all, nothing, because we chose to have one parent stay at home. Lots of people are much better off than us but get all this extra help that DH’s tax is paying for! It really doesn’t seem fair, but you can’t talk to anyone about it because they just tell you that if you’re not struggling to afford food every week you have no right to feel slightly peeved at the system.

Pinkyantelope · 11/02/2022 09:40

[quote Usererror1999]@Pinkyantelope it’s the fact that lots of people who
Have more money than I do are still getting the rebate.[/quote]
But people who've got more money than me could have a cheaper house and pay less council taxes than I do. Pensioners who are billionaires can get fuel rebates. It's impossible to make it completely fair, and would cost too much to administer.

My point is, why are you not more concerned about the people whose bills are going to be unaffordable for them even with the rebate?

There's always someone moaning about taxes but very rarely thinking about the services their taxes pay for. It's not why shouldn't I get a rebate but why should I?